On March 29, 2006, a total solar
eclipse occurred when the new moon moved directly between the
sun and the earth. The moon’s shadow fell on the eastern
tip of Brazil, sped eastward across the Atlantic, through northern
Africa, across the Mediterranean, and into Turkey, where an Exploratorium
team was waiting.

To view a total solar eclipse, you have to be somewhere along the narrow path of totality, where the moon’s dark umbral shadow falls onto the earth’s surface. The path of totality for this eclipse is shown above. Our location in Side, Turkey, is marked with a star.